Other Views:

President Obama threw himself and the weight of his office behind an all-out effort to reduce gun violence in the United States.

Moms and dads across America breathed a momentary sigh of relief. Momentary, of course, because results are far from guaranteed.

But if there was ever a moment to make a difference — days after 20 first-graders were slaughtered in their classrooms — it is now.

Obama tasked Vice President Joe Biden with generating a set of proposals in a month. Biden and his working group are to consider gun-control legislation and executive action, as well as ways to improve access to mental health services and how to beat back the influence of violent images in our culture.

The last two are worthy of study and, without a doubt in the case of mental health access, worthy of action.

Thankfully, Obama said the gun conversation would be short.

When it comes to government action, Obama already knows what to do. The nation has been debating gun-control measures for decades, forever studying and talking, but always failing to take action.

Will new laws wipe out all gun violence? Of course not.

But imagine, for a moment, that your child was the one saved because the Newtown shooter had a slightly less powerful gun or 20 fewer rounds of ammunition.

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